Spent a few weeks in DTLA recently and a lot of lunches at Grand Central. Definitely the carnitas place, even though we've got the goods here in Chicago as well. Being a carnitas joint, it tends to be open earlier in the day. They sell beer, too.

Golden Road brewery is good - esp for LA which had redisted good beer for decades despite San Diego and Northern California as craft brew centers.

Egg Slut- long lines for sandwiches in the Eastman Egg Co. mold. Good but not worth the wait with other options abounding.

If you are scratching off bucket list items downtown, consider Philppe the Original in Chinatown. You'll want to Uber a lot. Pretty spread out - and moderately hilly- downtown. If you are trying to do public transportation, do as the locals don't and use the subway- gets you from downtown to Los Feliz/Thai Town vicinity to points west where you'll end up. Enjoy.

So I'm en route to LA right now...to be very exact, I'm on an Amtrak train which is delayed in Santa Barbara for who knows how long. Looks like I'll be taking the red line train from Union Station to 7th St and then transferring to the Expo line...or, if I'm cranky enough, I'll just grab a Lyft. What's a good late-night dive to eat in (aka LA equivalent of El Farolito in SF) roughly along that route?

Yelp shows a Japanese diner called Suehiro Cafe open til 1am, not too far from the train station, so I think that's my game plan. How nasty is that part of LA at night?

Interestingly, I thought this would be the night to correct my shocking failure to eat In-N-Out since moving to CA, but Googling reveals a byzantine dispute centering on In-N-Out refusing to build in downtown LA if they can't have a drive-thru...

I'm going to be in LA over the weekend - anything that's a must hit? I should be free most of Sunday and Saturday evening, I have a car and I can spend a a reasonable amount but really interested in local flair more than fine dining - TIA!

Places I keep coming back to every time: Thai (Jitlada, Pailin, Luv2Eat, Night + Market Song), Japanese (Aburiya Raku, Tsujita — also looking forward to their new tan tan ramen place — various sushi), Mexican like we can’t really get here (Guerilla Tacos, Ricky’s Fish Tacos), pure LA (Sqirl, Gjusta). Oh, and too many places in the San Gabriel Valley to list.

Touristy thing in Burbank: the Warner Bros lot tour. It's great, and the studio still has a significant amount of property.

Restaurants: maybe go over into North Hollywood, Sherman Way for Thai Gulch, my go-to is Krua Thai. You could also drive to North Hollywood, take the red line to downtown LA, hit Grand Central market/all the buzzy delicious places, take in the Bradbury building and Grand Central library.

You are staying quite far from the West side, if you want to see the ocean it'll take about a day, taking into account traffic both ways, and general noodling around time.

Very excited to be moving to LA in late January. We're renting in Westchester, close to LAX and a short drive from the ocean and all the beach cities. Westchester seems to be a desert in terms of interesting food - good taco tricks and some interesting Jamaican, a nice brewery - anyone got any intel otherwise?

KevinM wrote:Very excited to be moving to LA in late January. We're renting in Westchester, close to LAX and a short drive from the ocean and all the beach cities. Westchester seems to be a desert in terms of interesting food - good taco tricks and some interesting Jamaican, a nice brewery - anyone got any intel otherwise?

Looking at this thread, it occurs to me that I never updated with the results of my last trip to LA. Unfortunately, I only had one sit-down meal which was at all noteworthy--a fine bowl of 'Spicy Breakfast Ramen' and a very fine kimchi and pork belly appetizer ('Butakimu') at the Shin Sen Gumi franchise on Sawtelle--and my experience was somewhat ruined by a very intoxicated and belligerent patron seated next to me at the counter who was not handled properly by the staff (to be fair, he outweighed any visible ones by about 80lbs) and was pretty annoying to deal with. Food was good, though! And the giant carnitas tacos at the Grand Central Market are as good as everyone says!

Anyway, I'm heading back to LA next week for 5 days. My girlfriend is a native Angeleno and has a bunch of spots to show me, many of which overlap with the recs in this thread. We'll be staying in Echo Park and have some access to a car, but will probably try to stay in East LA/Downtown with a possible excursion to Pasadena.

1. I want to explore Mexican food, both exemplars of a particular item, even if common (i.e. pastor tacos, burritos, etc) or less common (regional stuff, birria, pozole, mariscos), but the caveat is that anywhere that's a sit-down restaurant (as opposed to a taco truck to hit on the fly) needs to have a decent vegetable-heavy (doesn't have to be meat-free) option for my girlfriend. 2. If such a thing exists, I would be interested in worthwhile, budget Japanese options convenient to Echo Park/DTLA.3. If I decide to venture up to Pasadena (I want to see the historic observatory), is there any can't-miss food there?

Aha, I assumed you’d been murdered outside Union Station. One less death on my conscience!

1. Is seafood okay with your gf? Coni Seafood in Inglewood is known for pescado zarandeado and smoked marlin tacos, but many other dishes are top notch, too. And Guerilla Tacos is extremely veg-friendly. (Though possibly closed until the new year? Their webpage is confusing on this point.)

2. I’m not that familiar with Little Tokyo, but definitely check out Marugame Monzo for fresh-made udon. The uni udon is their signature dish, but you should also try a cold dish to really appreciate the texture of the noodles. Budget-friendly, for sure. Elsewhere, your best bet for budget Japanese may be lunch, when many places have specials/set menus. Aburiya Raku is the best I’ve had here, but I can also wholeheartedly recommend Sushi Tsujita and Sushi Sasabune.

3. When I’m in Pasadena (as I am now, in fact), I usually drive 20 minutes to SGV for some of the best Chinese food in the U.S. (also Vietnamese, Burmese, etc.) But in Pasadena proper, I’m a big fan of Euro Pane Bakery for great pastry and the best egg-salad sandwich I’ve ever had (two locations, the one farther west is a bit fancier inside). Prices are very reasonable, especially for the quality. I also hear that Osawa is very good, but haven’t tried it yet. Finally, consider going up to Altadena for great gelato at Bulgarini.

Edit: Just reconfirmed yesterday what an insanely good deal Sushi Tsujita's chirashi lunch special is. $18 gets you a nice-sized box chock full of amazing quality seafood over seasoned rice, plus soup (not always miso, although that’s great there, too). They only have 15 of these per day, but in my experience you'll have no problem snagging one if you get there before noon; yesterday, I bet they still had them around 1. The other lunch specials are great too, just not quite an astounding a value. Quality is top notch across the board.

Open New Year's Eve and Day, then closed for vacation 1/2-1/4.

Edit #2: Tsujita Killer Noodle is awesome. Highly recommend the “Tokyo style” tantanmen — either with soup or without. I eat a lot of spicy food and 5/5 on heat/numbing was more than sufficiently hot for me; might even go lower next time.

Any recent recommendations? I have time for a breakfast, lunch and dinner near Culver City squeezed into a wedding weekend. I'm looking for something moderately priced that I can't get in Chicago. Happy hour food is always a plus. Tsujita tsukemen is already a must on every visit. I've already read this thread and Food Talk Central. TIA.

Don’t know Culver City that well; I’d suggest Guerilla Tacos, but they’re not in CC on weekends. I really liked my meal at Lukshon a couple of years ago — every dish was a winner. The FTC crowd hates it for some reason, though.

If you like Hawaiian, Rutts and A-Frame are two good options right in Culver City. A-Frame is a Roy Choi spot, so it's really hip (just avoid the housemade Spam because it doesn't come close to Hormel's crown jewel).

For a great and mad unique burger, the Plan Check on Sawtelle will be right near where you are too.

Thanks for the replies. My free time for meals quickly disappeared so I created time for fourth and fifth meal on the night I landed.

Tsujita for tsukemen with extra broth and extra noodles proved as consistent as previous visits. Ten minute wait at 11pm. Damn, their tsukemen is luxurious. Why can't any place in Chicago do a decent version?

Leo's taco truck at midnight also hit the right notes. I managed to put down four Al Pastor tacos ($1.25 each) before settling into a food coma at the hotel. They had two trompos going with two trompodores(they should be called this) slicing to give an idea of demand.

Each day was packed full of great food but the highlight may have been the rehearsal dinner which included an In & Out Food Truck, a Kogi Food Truck and a fry cart.

Walk down Sunset to Silver Lake and eat a Cubano at Cafe Tropical. Iced coffee is great too. If you're still hungry (like I was last time), go across the street to Siete Mares (the orange drive-thru lookin' thing) and get a shrimp ceviche tostada. Fish tacos were good too although that's definitely not my area of expertise.